Doctor Strange (MCU) Cosplay - Finished

hovercarracer

New Member
Hi All, Thought I'd share my efforts on the MCU Doctor Strange costume. I started it as the first few posters came out and finished it just after the movie aired here in Australia - slow and steady! Some parts I obsessed over to make them screen accurate, and others I changed to suit my preference (what can I say, I like the bling). It's a budget (-ish!) build - so no custom-printed cloak lining and no 3D printed parts :)cry). I would say that I still spent well over $100 on it though, due to splurging on cloak materials and the fact that I had no idea what I was doing most of the time (not bad for my third ever sewing project!) so there was a lot of wastage and things bought in a fit of excitement that I never ended up using (we've all been there, right?.... right?? :lol)

Much love and huuuuuuge shout out to the pioneers on the original thread - no way would I have had the guts to tackle this without inspiration!

First, the finished product (shout out if you saw me at Supanova Brisbane!). A few days before the convention I saw the photos of the end of movie costume and decided to change my belts to the red version. A bit of a scramble but worth it!
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(yes, fem!Strange! )


...and some peeks at the details I am most proud of:
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I'll be posting WIP photos bit by bit... thanks for tuning in!
 
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I just wanted to pop in here to commend and congratulate you on this budget Dr. Strange build - you've done magnificently!! It's quite simply gorgeous, it's a tremendous achievement - all the more so on such a budget as you were working with but, if I may say, by my reckoning your cosplay is just pitch-perfect fabulous, budget or no budget....it's bang-on, you've nailed it and it looks amazing. Indeed, considering an accomplishment like this, maybe you should think about starting up a YouTube channel or a FB page or some such - just something, I suppose, to share with the world everything you went through in bringing this cosplay to life - and succeeding with this build as you have done! Truly, this is inspiring!
 
Wow, thanks guys! Your comments are exactly why the cosplay community is so amazing :)


So here goes... Starting with the undertunic:

The undertunic looks to be darker than the top tunic. Went to Spotlight (Australia, guys - no Jo-Anns ;) ) during a sale. Linen was too expensive so I got a 'cotton linen' blend - something with a similar texture but only $11.90 / m. For a person my size, 155 cm, 2 m was plenty. Add a $5 discount coupon = $18.80. Still a little pricey - in retrospect I think something like homespun or even just an old blue bedsheet would've been fine, especially considering very little of the undertunic shows beneath the tunic, cloak and arm wraps.

For the pattern, I happened to have grabbed some Kwik-Sew patterns for a different project - $3 each with further 10% off for Spotlight VIPs = $2.70! Presenting Kwik Sew 3377 (Pattern B).
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It's a pretty easy pattern (take it from me - this was only the second garment I've sewn!). Modifications: slimmer, longer sleeves - there appears to be a fair bit of scrunched up material above the arm wraps. Extra seams down the front and back for added interest. Move the slits from the sides to where the sides join the front panel. Not sure why I did this - I think at the time that's where I thought it looked like they were... Don't need the gussets (odd square bits under the arms). Result was something like this:

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Looking at the promo poster, it seems like there are a few layers to the collar of the undertunic - the main fabric, a blue part, and a black stripe.
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Had no idea how to go about it so I sewed some bits of fabric together and drew some lines with a marker for the black parts. Then folded it in half and awkwardly attached it to the base collar, trying to make it have a pleated/folded appearance as well. Looks a bit dodgy but meh - no one really sees it anyway. Add a couple of eyelets to do it up and done.
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Yep, had no idea how to add that collar on. Tried to follow the instructions but just could not wrap my head around it! >< Interfacing showing but not like anyone's going to be peering down my neck! The thing I quickly learned about this costume is that it doesn't matter if some things look dodgy - there are so many parts to the costume that it will wow no matter what accuracy or level of 'finished' you end up with.
 
I just wanted to pop in here to commend and congratulate you on this budget Dr. Strange build - you've done magnificently!! It's quite simply gorgeous, it's a tremendous achievement - all the more so on such a budget as you were working with but, if I may say, by my reckoning your cosplay is just pitch-perfect fabulous, budget or no budget....it's bang-on, you've nailed it and it looks amazing. Indeed, considering an accomplishment like this, maybe you should think about starting up a YouTube channel or a FB page or some such - just something, I suppose, to share with the world everything you went through in bringing this cosplay to life - and succeeding with this build as you have done! Truly, this is inspiring!


Haha,very flattering! Don't think I'm really experienced enough to start a page though - I've done a grand total of 2 costumes aside from this and mostly have no idea what I'm doing... :p
 
Outer Tunic

The outer tunic appears to be made of several layers of a linen-type fabric - multiple copies of the same pattern hemmed at various lengths to create that pleated look at the bottom. My cheaper approach was to make a base tunic, then add fake hem pleats and the scarf-like folded part on top of that.

Base Fabric:
Again, linen was too expensive. Couldn't find the right shade of blue from the linen/cotton blend I used to make the inner tunic. Seeking something with a bit of visible texture/weave to it, I decided to use cotton drill. I ordered "Chino Drill - Royal" from Lincraft online (no physical shop where I live, boooo). At $5/m it was a bargain - but when it arrived I discovered it was waaaay too bright. I attempted to fade it using Rit Dye Remover and it was a disaster - the fabric went an odd mustard colour! I then bleached it multiple times in a ~1:10 solution and it went to a very faded blue. (Weird!) Then I re-dyed it with a mixture of Rit Denim and Royal ($9 each) and happily it came out just the colour I was after. As an added bonus, my inexperienced, uneven dye job lent the fabric a worn / weathered look. I used about 2.5 m of the 3 m I ordered, so roughly $30 including the dye.
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Pattern:
Someone pointed out on the other thread that a Jedi tunic has some similarities. Happily, I was already working on a Jedi outfit before getting carried away with Strange, so my pattern was all ready to go - it was done as per this excellent tutorial on the Rebel Legion forum, though you needn't be so particular about hem lengths and seam placements. Length of mine was to ~1/3 down the lower leg at the front corners, and slightly shorter towards the sides and back (there appears to be a downward tilt of the front panels, though that might just be an illusion of the drape). Don't forget back and side slits - length of those depend on how tall you are and how swishy you want the tunic to be - mine go from hem to just above the knee (~1/3 femur length). No sleeves required, but make the shoulders wider.

Quilted Shoulders:
Elongate the pattern along the shoulder to a point just before the vertical drop of your arm - this may take some experimentation. I made mine, quilted it, then thought it looked too wide and had to unpick and inelegantly re-hem it, so test before you sew! The armholes are rather wider than a normal tunic - they seem to come almost to where the belt sits - gotta have room to swing those dramatic spellcasting moves after all! ;)
As for the actual quilting - I sandwiched 2 layers of wadding (I think it was bamboo? it was thin but dense, so not that fluffy polyester wadding you can get for cheap) between the drill and a lining material.The two layers of wadding gave enough stiffness and definition for my satisfaction, but again - experimentation might be required depending on what fabrics you're using. For cheapness, I lined with Prima Homespun, Slate at $5.60/m from Spotlight. (I only lined the top half, not the skirt - again, just to save a few $). Adding the lining also let me add some hem detail to the sleeve, though thinking back I've no idea how I did it :p On the lining side, I drew out the designs to be quilted - mainly straight 'rays' from shoulder to armpit, but lower down the sleeve there are a few bent lines. Quilt with a thread slightly lighter than the fabric, otherwise it might not be noticeable. I quilted front and back sleeves, but if pressed for time - not like anyone sees the back anyway :p Quilt first, then sew the tunic together!
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Outer Tunic - Continued...

Bottom Pleats:
As with the rest of the costume - not that straight-forward! There are 5 layers all up (the longest of which is the base tunic itself, if making it the same method as here), and at least 2 of the layers are a lighter colour than the others. The pleats are on the front and back. I recommend using thinner fabrics if you can, because all the seams make it a bit bulky and you might struggle to make it all sit flat if using thicker fabrics (e.g. Drill) for all five layers. After some searching I settled for more cheap Homespun (Cornflower) - $5.60/m from Spotlight and I used less than 50 cm of it for the two lighter layers, 1 layer of the Homespun (Slate) used for the lining earlier, and the same dyed Cotton Drill as the base for the top-most layer. If making by this method, Basically I simply sewed folded pieces of fabric to the bottom, folding the sides so there were no raw edges showing. For the top-most layer, sew it up-side down and then steam-iron it the right way. I can't remember exactly how wide I made the pleats, but from memory it was something like 3 cm (plus seam allowance).
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Collar:
I completely made this up as I went. Thing is, the collar doesn't go the whole way down the garment - it stops a few inches below the waist and the ends are slanted. It is also obviously a different material. On the original make thread much peering and scrutinising by many members has revealed it to be cross-stitched with several colours - but ain't nobody got time for that! I originally thought to do it with hession or canvas, but I came upon a rough textured material of different blue threads that was quite spot on. It's called "Myriad" at Spotlight and was found in the Furnishing section. I bought it on special at $14/m and used far less than the 1 m I bought. Sadly I can't quite remember how exactly I sewed it on - I think I first backed it onto the Homespun lining material... then I started sewing it from the back of the neck, having it sit vertically - sewing the edge of the tunic to the bottom edge of the collar (as for a normal collar pattern)... then as I went to the front of the chest I somehow started sewing the edge of the tunic to the top of the collar piece, so that it would lie flat... Which doesn't make any sense to me even after doing it ><. Coming to the ends - I stitched down only the sides and not the actual end (the slanted part) - this allowed me to fray it a bit to give it an illusion of being hand-stitched. To get the look of different coloured threads, I drew lightly with a marker for the dark lines, and rubbed a bit of tailor's chalk towards the middle for the lighter parts. Idek.
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Outer Tunic (continued):

The Pleated Scarf Thing:
Put this off for a loooong time, having no idea how to go about it. I also did not have much of the hand-dyed fabric left :/ First, figure out how long you need the scarf to be. It stops at the waist/belt on the right, and goes almost to the bottom of the tunic (about knee-length) on the left. To figure out the width - first grab some paper and experiment with how wide/deep you want the pleats to be - there are 4 pleats. The pleats get wider towards the bottom layers. There also seems to be a slight off-set of the layers (the edges closest to the tunic opening don't sit straight on top of each other). On the long side of the scarf, the end is slanted to give it that cool layered look. Being short on fabric, I made use of the selvages to avoid having to hem the scarf, and had to-jigsaw the entire length of the scarf from what I had left - I have seams where there shouldn't be... Starting at the slanted end, start folding the pleats bottom layer to top layer. Use a steam iron to make the folds stay, then pin in place for extra security while attaching the scarf to the tunic. To do that, I believe I sewed just the top layer of the pleat to the base tunic, from the level where the collar part ends up to almost the shoulder, on both left and sides. Not sewing it down at the back of the neck allows you to scrunch it up a bit for a more scarf-y appearance. I then hand-stitched the pleats down at various places, using tiny stitches and same-coloured thread, and adjusting the pleats as needed to make it look less precise (scrunch it up a bit). I did not secure the bottom 30 cm or so as that slanted pleat part is clearly not stitched down / free-moving. Just iron it and pray it doesn't unfold too much when you wear it! You can stitch down the short end though (hidden under the belt).

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Tunic Symbol / Ankh:
There is a subtle ankh-like symbol on the tunic that is a throwback to his comic costume. Part of this is made by the 'collar', and part is on the pleated scarf. To do this, I just cut the design from the same "Myriad" blue fabric I used for the collar and glued it to the pleats using that iron on hemming tape stuff. I intentionally allowed the edges to fray a bit to give it a worn / stitched look, and did the same chalk / marker technique to add different colours. It worked rather well! I tried to make my ankh design more reminiscent of the comic book one (pointier / more angles) rather than making it completely screen-accurate to the movie. Later I went and stitched metallic blue thread (Gutterman metallic) randomly to give it a bit of glam ;)
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Finished product:
The outer tunic is now pretty much done! Here it is from the front and back, after slight weathering with... umm... makeup powder :lol. The back has a bit of extra material in it because I didn't measure it quite right :p I messily added some hook-and-eye bits as a closure mechanism at the front (knew I kept those old bras for a reason! ;) ) - I do recommend adding some sort of closure mechanism whether it's a zip, buttons, snaps or velcro, as relying on the belt alone to hold it shut doesn't quite work when you're bending/twisting. You might also notice some odd round parts at the collar, just above the ankh - this is where I sewed magnets to hold the cape on. More on that later.

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Okay! After a hiatus - on to the money part:

The Cloak of Leviation!
D:

I had been collecting materials for this for a while, buying things bit by bit as they came on special. First, let's talk fabric - here's what I ended up with (all from Spotlight):cloak lining (2).jpg
Lurex Jacquard Reversible ($10/m) : For the cloak lining. As per my budget requirements, I knew I wasn't going to get the custom-printed lining, so I tried to find something that was similar in look (checquered) and colour scheme. This one was pretty perfect - and it was in the clearance section! One side is dark orange/tan/blue and the other is purple/orange/blue. It even has a slight shimmer/glitter to it for some extra magic! The only downside is it seems to be some kind of wool blend, so it's not as 'swishy' as a satin-y material. It's also a bit heavy. I used absolutely every centimeter of the 1.5 m I bought.
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1. Stretch Drill (Chilli) ($17/m) : For the brain part of the collar and the red strip at the hem. Rather more expensive than I would've liked but I bought it in a hurry towards the end of the project. Used about 50 cm.
2. Blake Triple Weave (Rhubarb) ($10/m): Found in the furnishings section - actually, I found 2 lengths in the remnants bin (!) but you can easily find it on the roll in various colours. I think I used about 2 m of it. While the woven texture is not quite a match for the herringbone texture of the actual costume you tell that it actually has a texture to it. It's a bit thick but still light. Downside is that I don't think it'd work if you are going for the 'rag' technique I think is used in the costume (the seams between the sections, which I've used piping for) as it frays rather easily.
3. Calais Diamond Velvet (Shiraz) ($18/m): Again, found in furnishings. A little expensive (even on special) but I used only about 30 cm of it. I was just looking for a fabric that had some kind of chequered design to it and totally wasn't expecting to find such a good match :) Much easier and cheaper but less accurate than the embossing velvet road.
4. Crushed Panne Velvet (Red) ($4/m): This is the fabric I'm least satisfied and never want to work with again! I was reading on the other thread how many people were embossing velvet to get both the large and smaller chequered design and the 'embroidered' edging and so bought some super cheap crushed velvet when it came on special without any clear idea exactly what to use it for (because obviously real velvet is waaaaaay out of my budget!). After realising I couldn't emboss it (because it's crushed already - duh!) I used it as a stand-in for the large chequer patches of the cloak, the cloak edging, and the piping. Do not recommend! This stuff is hair-tearingly frustrating to work with because it rolls and just doesn't stay still no matter how many pins you stick it with! I do like how it came out, though - adds a bit of luxury.
5. Snakeskin Trim (Red) (80c/m(!)): For the edging. I was wanting to use something like vinyl, but I saw this stuff in the bargain bin and it was too cheap not to jump on it. It was easy to cut and work with. Used about 3 m.

...All up, maybe $60 worth of fabric? If you haven't guessed, the cloak is the major $$ hole of my build :p
 
Cloak of Levitation (Cont.)

Now the accessory parts of the cloak - cords, trims and so on.
(My build (Left) -- Costume Reference (Right))
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1. Twine Thread, Red: For the cross-stitch edging of the collar and part of the shoulder. Bought as a 5 m packet for $3. It is thinner than the cord used for the brain pattern.
2. Rayon President Braid, Red ($2/m): Used for the embroidery part of the cloak edging / shoulder. Pretty much any plait-looking cord will be okay if you're not fussy. It's a bit stiffer than I'd've liked. Used rather a lot of it - about 4 m!
3. Waxed Cotton, Red: For the brain pattern! I deliberately bought a thicker cord than was probably used in the movie so that I wouldn't have to do as many squiggles XD I think what I used was about 2 mm width (?). Bought from ebay - $5 for I think 5 m. I used pretty much all of it.
4 & 6. Bugle beads and DMC thread. My sewing machine is budget so it doesn't do embroidery, so instead I used DMC thread (stranded cotton and a bit of metallic thread) and bugle beads to create something reminiscent of the design in the actual costume.
5. Piping (custom made): Now that some high quality pictures are around, in retrospect I think the 'piping' lines of the cloak are actually some kind of frayed material. Maybe even using a 'rag quilt' technique. At the time I thought I'd use haberdashery piping / flanged cord as others have done - it's quick and looks impressive. However after much squinting I did think that it looked a bit more ragged so I made my own piping with the stretch velvet and 6 mm (1/4") 'drawstring cord'. It was an absolute nightmare to do (see comments on stretch velvet above) - and I used about 10 m of it! X_X Unsure if piping is usually that difficult to make as this was my first time doing it...
7. Twisted cord ($3.50/m): Bought at the very start of the project because I was excited and it looked pretty. Used it for collar parts even though the movie uses the brain cord because it would've been a shame to waste.

All up, about another $40. So maybe my original estimate of $150 for the build was a bit low... it's looking like I spent more than I thought ...*sob* (...but so worth it!)
 
Cloak of Levitation (Cont.)


Now for the tricky part - construction! Had no pattern and no idea how to go about it. I started with a cheap plastic tablecloth (a cheap, very large patterning material!) and after much awkward twisting in front of the mirror drafted out the shape. Then I drew on the patches and shoulder. If you're looking for source images I suggest the original build/research thread (see link in first post).
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Some comments: Asymmetric! Also, looking at the set photos at the time, it seemed the cloak was quite swishy / drapey - rather larger/wider than I had originally thought. I maybe took it a bit too far with my version, but it worked out in the end because I was able to put those pleats in the shoulder part.
After cutting it from the relevant fabrics (don't forget seam allowance!), remembering just in time to reverse the pattern (to avoid flipping the cloak design!):
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I sewed together the individual rows / rays of the cloak, then made the piping. I used waaaaay more than I thought it would take - about 10 m. All custom-made. From awful stretch velvet nightmare. Cry. Maybe some interfacing or something would've helped but idek how that all works. If going this route (abort!) - go slowly, and attempt not to break your needle and lose it within the depths of your machine as I did D:
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(never did recover that fragment... I presume it's still somewhere within the depths of my machine...


Shoulder

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The shoulder deserves special mention: I think it's an egg shape - wider at the top than the bottom. It goes from mid-clavicle-ish to mid-humerus - a bit longer than readily appreciated. The patch pattern I used is: square (in my case, the 'calais' material) / herringbone ('triple weave' material) / square / herringbone / square / herringbone material. After sewing them in that order, I cut a wide strip of stretch velvet the same length as the circumference of the egg, sewed the ends to create a circle, then sewed the two parts together. Inexperienced as I was, I thought it would end up as a flat piece, but in fact it ended up more like a... bowl shape - which was actually better! This way your shoulder can sit into the bowl and it helps the cloak stay in place a little bit. Not sure if any of that makes sense (sadly I have no making-of photos of this part), but strangely this is one of the parts I'm proudest of in the whole costume XD

Since I had no idea what I was doing, I sewed the cloak without leaving a space for the shoulder piece, then cut a hole from it and inelegantly jammed it in and sewed it down by hand. I had extra material there, so put in some pleats at the bottom of the shoulder-piece, just like in the movie version :)


Cloak Edging

(aka the embroidery part)
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1. Sewing the Gimp braid to the velvet. Not the easiest to work with - a zig-zag stitch worked best to tack it down, rather than trying to sew with a straight stitch down the middle of the braid.
2. Made up a design since I don't know how to machine embroider / don't have a machine for it. After hand-embroidering the stretch velvet using a mixture of red DMC thread, red metallic thread and gold metallic thread, I went back and added bugle beads for some extra bling :p. A nice, low brain-power activity for a change!
3. Cut the notched wave design from the snakeskin / vinyl (I made a template from cardboard and used it to draw the design straight onto the snakeskin).
4. Sew the snakeskin to the embroidered velvet so that it just peeks out beyond the edge. Iron.
5. Sew a second strip of velvet to the back, so that it peeks out just beyond the snakeskin layer. Iron.
 
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Cloak of Levitation (cont.)


...Collar
aka 'the brain part' XD

I put this off for a good 2 weeks. No joke. Just so daunting - how to make it stiff enough, how to make it the right shape, how-do-you-even-attach-it-idek. And don't even get me started on the brain pattern. In the end it turned out simpler in some ways and more complicated in others.

For the pattern, I sketched out some things onto paper and taped it to the cloak. Once I had something I thought might work... take a deep breath and cut it from the fabric. By this time I had very little fabric left, so if it went awry I was screwed! As I was making it up as I went, I cut 2 copies (front and back) of the entire collar - one from the woven fabric (for the outside), and one from velvet (for the inside). In the movie version the inside of the collar looks like a kind of felt (?) material, but I wasn't about to go and buy yet more red fabric. Also cut the mantle and lower collar part (the brain sections) from drill. In retrospect - this collar design is not quite right - I think there needs to be some kind of corner where the collar meets the cloak to allow the brooches to sit vertically. There are other really spot-on cloaks that people have done on the other thread (see first post for link).

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As for achieving the stiffness of the collar... In the end I used 1 layer of wadding throughout the entire collar, and some stiff stabiliser for the lower collar (underneath the brain section). The stabiliser I used was "72F Peltex 2-Sided Fusible Ultra Firm Stabiliser" ($20/m - ewww!) - and it was much stiffer than I needed! In fact it was so stiff that I ended up peeling it off the fabric slightly and cutting slits into it to give it a bit more flexibility.

Now - the brain section! I have no idea how other people go about this, but I think some sewing machines allow you to do this kind of embroidery, or couch down a cord with a walking/quilting foot. Mine does not. Which means it's all done by hand. Cry. Draw the pattern on with a marker - dark enough that you can see it but not so obvious that if your cord doesn't cover it it won't be too obvious. I then tacked the cord on with little stitches, mainly at the bends. It took several nights - I even took it to work with me to work on during lunch time! You don't think it'll take too long just looking at it... but it does X_X . I've never been more grateful that I am short and have a small neck, lol. Just keep telling yourself how awesome it'll look and you'll get through. :p A less cry-inducing method might be to use puff paint. Braaaains. Braaaaaaains.
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After all the brains were finally done, I attached all the parts together by hand stitching (by this time it was too chunky to fit into the sewing machine), and a lot of anxious sweating (ohgodwhatifitdoesn'twork???) First I sewed the mantle part to the main cloak, then the base (woven part) collar to the cloak, then the lower collar brain part on top of all that. Then added the trim (also by hand).
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Because apparently I'm a sucker for punishment, I also did the stitching along the edge of the collar. The devil is in the details! It's just a simple cross-stitch but you need a needle that can punch through all the layers of the fabric. Also done by hand. Oof. Sore fingers. I did this last (after the lining) since I didn't know if I'd have time and I can tell you that hand-stitching a heavy cloak when it's 35 C is not. fun. Blood, sweat and tears. Mainly sweat. XD
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One last detail - there seem to be some tiny stitches around the edge of the collar. Maybe to keep the layers from sliding too much? I added it the night before the convention because I had time. Used metallic thread because why not.
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Cloak of Levitation
(Last part, finally!)

Attached the cloak edges (the velvet/snakeskin/velvet sandwich), then stitched down the collar, then hemmed it, then attached the lining.

Lining
I stupidly did not cut the lining at the same time as I did the outside of the cloak - so instead I had to jigsaw back together my pattern pieces - luckily I hadn't emptied the bin yet! I knew it was a bit dicey because I'd made many modifications to the original pattern as I went, but it wasn't too bad. Getting all the pieces from the fabric was tricky - Tetris skills level up! XD As you can see, there was not much fabric to spare. I cut the pieces rather than making the entire lining one piece just for visual interest - if short on time I guess you could go that route though. I also reversed the fabric in some places since the lining of the movie cloak has some patches on it (so cool!). I had to add sections here and there to increase the fit with the outside of the cloak.
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After struggling with the drape of it I made a second shoulder piece from lining - it helped a little but it's still not great.The outside of the cloak folds under on one side, which is incredibly annoying, but as I've no idea how to fix that I just left it. At the last minute I decided to put a red trim on the hem of the cloak, since the movie version looks kinda like it does have a binding on it. In retrospect - not worth the effort! I had my first go at doing 'continuous binding' using some of that stretch drill. Wasn't sure what order to sew things together, so in the end I sewed down one side, round the hem, and up the other side by machine, then did the collar-to-lining part by hand.

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Obligatory mirror shot! I will say that despite all the frustration that went in to the cloak, dayum but did it feel good to put on! Also added some of those cheap diamante stickers you use for papercraft and such for some added bling. I know they'll fall off eventually but it's cool while it lasts :)

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Woops - one more addition to the cloak. Magnets! This seemed like the easiest way to go about wearing the cloak, though perhaps not the best way. I ordered 4 magnets from Frenergy Magnets. They were 25mm x 3 mm N48 magnets ($3.85 each, so $15.40 all up), though I can't seem to find them on the website anymore. Delivery was pretty fast (Australian). Hilariously, the postie attempted to 'hide' the package under the (holey) doormat. It's the thought that counts, mate XD
cloak magnets.jpg

This size and strength was more than enough to hold the cloak (2 magnets in the cloak, 2 in the tunic). I didn't have much issue with the cloak pulling the tunic up, but I did notice that it pulled the sides of the tunic out. Thus the cloak doesn't sit exactly as I had intended it to, but it's still pretty good.


If you've made it this far - congratulations! You've done the 'hard parts'! Now you just have the belt, sling rings, eye of agomotto, spell discs, boots and arm wraps to go! bwahahaha :facepalm
 
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Eye of Agomotto

Well this part's simple - I just bought mine from ebay for about $15. It suits my size perfectly and looks pretty convincing for the inexpert eye. I have no knowledge of electronics, so I bought some green LED earrings ($5) and taped them behind the medallion for added magic. As a finishing touch I painted the cord with red and gold nail polish - I believe the movie version uses a thick braided cord of various colours. Obviously not as accurate or awesome as a 3D printed version, but probably cheaper and quicker.
eye (4).jpgeye (3).jpgeye (1).jpg (reference->) props Cn-rUkcXEAAxBSm.jpg

Sling Rings
I found some cheap costume jewellery at Spotlight - $2 for a set of 4 rings. For the first sling ring, I glued two of those rings together, then added an odd trapezoid charm (also found at spotlight, $1) and created random designs with hot glue. Added some snaps for the bobbly bits on top. For the top of the second ring, I made the designs from several layers of foam. Cover with gold spray paint, weather with some black paint and presto - convincing-from-a-distance sling rings for $5. :D
sliprings (2).jpgsliprings (1).jpgsliprings (3).jpg
sliprings (6).jpgsliprings (4).jpgsliprings (5).jpg (reference->)sliprings ref.png

Cloak brooches:
Made from foam, backed on cardboard. I indented the foam with a ballpoint pen to make it a bit more 3D. Then gesso, gold spray paint, red nail polish and went over the lines with a black pen. They're attached to the cloak just with hot glue.
brooches.jpg


Belt keepers:
Same technique as above - foam on cardboard. After looking at way too many photos, I think there are at least 9 of the rectangular keepers and 2 of the "I" keepers. The rectangular ones have the appearance of hammered / pockmarked bronze metal with a bit of tarnish/rust. For this I used a battery operated engraver ($6) to poke indents in the foam, then painted with brown, then stippled with various combinations of copper nail polish, black and brown for the rusty look. Finally, glue the foam to a rectangle/loop of cardboard. Same technique for the "I" shape, but used hot glue to make the designs. They're also more of a gold colour than a copper colour. After painting, I sealed it with matte mod podge.
belt keepers (2).jpgbelt keepers (3).jpgbelt keepers (1).jpgbelt keepers (4).jpg
 
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Apologies for the long hiatus! Life, you know how it is...

Arm Wraps

I probably made these more complicated than they needed to be :p I originally intended to use a stretchy base material, then tack the trims on at certain places, in order to eliminate the need for velcro / zips. However I stupidly forgot to make sure my trims were the length of the stretced base, so in the end I made an odd elastic / lace-up closure. As for the trims themselves, there are 5 different trims:

arm wraps ref.jpg
1. Dark blue (webbing?)
2. Light blue/denim
3. Brown/dark denim
4. Wide plait - 6 braid? Light brown, black (x2?), grey, blue (x2?)
5. Thinner plait - fishtail braid? Same colours as (4)
If you're a real sucker for detail... there are also some tassels on the inside

I made the plaits myself using leather thonging. This was a bit thick - a thinner cord or even maybe stranded cotton might be better. I also included a bit of gold in it as a nod to the comic costume :) All the other trims were from its of ribbon and fabric I had on hand, some blue webbing (also used for the boots), and leftovers from the tunic. After I had all my trims, I laid them out on the base fabric in a random woven pattern, then stitched them all down by hand... X_X The tassels are made from stranded cotton - a mixture of brown, blue and yellow, and metallic gold, blue and red (the same as the sling ring holders on the belt). Remember that a little bit of fraying / messiness is okay - I went so far as to pick out some threads here and there and rub some dirt / makeup powder over mine, lol.

arm wraps (1).jpgarm wraps (2).jpg

Boots

I'm pretty cheap when it comes to boots - I will rarely buy new shoes just for a costume. I had some ankle-length red boots on hand, so I just wrapped some blue webbing around it similar to the movie style. At the last minute I also added a bit of bling (some earrings I never used XD) for visual interest. If I'd had time I'd have preferred to make some spats or something.... next time!
boots.jpg
 
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Belts


Okay, so now for the only major item left - the belts! I'm actually really proud of how these came out, considering I had no clear idea of how I wanted to do them going in. Let's start at the bottom layer:

View attachment 691149

1. Wide belt
I made this out of foam (2 mm). Cut 6 base panels:

- 2 trapezoidal pieces, for the front
- 2 short rectangular pieces, for the sides
- 2 long rectangular pieces, for the back

belt wide.jpg

When measuring your pieces, remember that there should be some overlap between them, in order to glue them together. Also, the belt seems to sit at the waist rather than the hips. Remember to give some room for the layers of the tunic...
Then cut thin borders for these pieces, and glue them together.
For the stringy texture of the front trapezoid, I just used hot glue. Another method could be to glue twine/hemp cord.
I painted mine first (layer of gesso, then several layers of acrylic), then glued them (contact adhesive), then sealed with matte mod podge. The colour itself appears to be a dark chocolate brown.
For the closure, I used velcro. However this worked not very well at all! My velcro pulled off from the foam on the day - probably due to a mixture of hot weather (Australia!), not strong enough glue, and I maybe put on a couple of kilos XD Luckily it doesn't matter too much how you close the belt, since the back is usually hidden under your cloak - so something like a lace-up closure or even just a normal belt buckle could work.

2. Plaited belt & Belt ring
There are some crazy talented people out there who have woven their own belts ( D= ) however I have neither the talent nor the patience for that! I ordered a couple of super cheap ones from ebay early on and they were pretty good. For the layout of these belts... It looks like there are two strips in front, and they combine at the sides (I had a limited length of belt, so this was the only option for me). The lower strip has the belt ring and sits slightly off centre.
Wearing the wide belt, I marked out where I thought the belt keepers should sit, then glued them down. Then I threaded through the top woven belt and secured the ends to the ends of the wide belt.
Then I secured the sides of the lower belt/belt ring to the sides, slightly off centre. Again, my methods weren't too pretty on the sides, but the cloak hides all!
belt (12).jpg

At the last minute (3 days before the convention! *facepalm*) I decided I liked the look of the red belts of the end of the movie (vs. the traditional brown), so I ended up 'dying' them with food colouring and permanent markers (paint didn't seem to work very well, since the belts were elastic).

For the belt ring .... well, I wasn't entirely sure how to do it! (again, 3D printing makes this 10x easier!) In the end I grabbed some thick foam (I think it was a gardening pad lol) and carved a couple of wonky circles from it. The outer circle has a rounded outer edge an an inward sloping inner edge. The inner circle has an outward sloping outer edge and just a straight inner edge... if that makes any sense XD I then slathered the lot in spackle (? not sure if it was actually spackle...) to cover up the texture of the foam, sanded and painted. I'm unsure what colour the belt ring is - in some lights it looks gold/brown, in others more like a gunmetal grey. So really - whatever floats your boat. Mine is brown, with gold highlights on the edges to give it some dimension. I looks like it should have a metallic / polished finish, but in the absence of that... mod podge!
belt buckle.jpgbelt (10).jpg

I found some wool with tiny gold sequins on it that I really liked, so I used it to stitch the ring to the belt. It looks like there are 4 'stitches' for each side. For the dangling part at the bottom, I cut my remaining belt length (not very much, by this point!) in half and layered the two on top of each other - don't forget to thread on the belt keepers! The tassel part at the end is supposed to be all one piece, however I didn't have enough belt for that, so I used the same wool as before and it turned out beautifully. To do this:
belt (1).jpgbelt tassles (2).jpgbelt tassles (3).jpgbelt tassles (1).jpgbelt tassles (4).jpg
- Cut several lengths of wool and glue them horizontally, to the back of the belt
- Fold them over the sides of the belt towards the front, bunch by bunch, crossing at the front and gluing as you go
- Glue a little extra to the front to bulk up the tassel and hide the raw end of the belt underneath, if needed
 
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The belt saga continues...


Okay! Now for the fun belts! XD

3. Arrow belt

More foam! I cut many, many ^ shaped pieces from 2 mm foam, folded them, then glued them down a strip of fabric. Then gesso, paint, mod podge.
belt chevron (2).jpgbelt chevron (3).jpgbelt (11).jpg

Final touches were to add a few rings - I think they're meant to be D-rings, but in my case - more unused earrings XD. Basically just looped through some fabric glued to the back of the arrow belt. They sit at the sides of the belt. Te arrow belt itself sits immediately below the wide belt, and appears to go around the entire waist.

4. Woven belt

This is the one I'm most pleased with. On the original thread, there was some discussion over this technique. It looks great, but if you're a real sucker for punishment: I think there are actually 2 belts, folded in half and then laced together...
belt woven ref.jpg

Here's how I did mine:

belt laced (0).jpg
(yes, it was another slow day at work... yes, I got many strange looks... XD)


1. Cut two strips of leather (or vinyl, etc.) each the width of your finished belt. For length, you can choose to make it a full belt - but I think this belt actually doesn't go the whole way around the waist - it seems to stop at the back of the waist. On each strip, cut a series of horizontal lines - you may need to experiment what width best suits your material and what you like.
2. Now for the weaving. It's a bit hard to explain in words but bear with me... Using a thin strip of leather/thong (or shoelace, in my case :p), you need to pull every second strip over every first strip, and thread the shoelace between the two. As found by another forum member, this diagram is helpful.
3. Repeat until cry. (where cry = the length of the belt)
4. Fold in half. Marvel at how pretty it looks, then cry again when you realise you need to do it twice XD
5. With each belt folded in half, now use another shoelace (a flat one) to lace the two belts together. In my case, you basically wind it around the round!shoelace part of each belt.

...Still with me? ;P

To finish, glue vinyl/fabric/leather to the raw edges. I folded the raw edges of that over as well, for a more finished look.
belt laced (10).jpgbelt laced (11).jpgbelt laced (12).jpgbelt laced (13).jpg

For my last minute brown-to-red colour change insanity, I painted a white shoelace red, and also painted the edges with a dark red, then mod podged everything to give it that leather look.
belt (5).jpg


Finishing touches
- Belt rings, as mentioned before.
- Sling ring holders/tassels
- Random knick-knacks (e.g. feathers, beads, tassels)
- Weather as you see fit
belt assembly.jpgbelt (6).jpgbelt (3).jpgbelt (9).jpgbelt (2).jpg Reference-->belt red ref.jpg
 
Last couple of items...



Spell discs:

Those laser cut ones look so cool! Sadly I had not enough time or knowledge to organise this, so I went a different route:

Plastic plates and glow-in-the-dark paint.

What can I say, it was Halloween and all of it was on special! :D I found some plastic neon plates similar to this one, for about $3:

???-621.jpg


I got some puffy blacklight paint for about $7, with a vague idea of somehow adding a blacklight torch into the armcuffs for awesomeness, though that didn't work out in the end. I was a bit worried it'd look a bit too plate-y and cheap, but in the end, after drawing the designs with the paint it turned out very nicely.... and it does look awesome under blacklight! XD
spell disc (2).jpegspell disc (3).jpg

As for how to attach it to your hand... I sacrificed a clear bra strap and simply taped it to either side of the plate. For added coolness, since the blacklight thing didn't work out, I added an LED fibre optic hair extension .
spell disc (4).jpgspell disc (5).jpgspell disc (6).jpg



Bonus: broken watch
... No, I didn't smash up a watch just for cosplay... I happened to have one awaiting for repair :p bwahahaha
watch.jpg


.... And that's it!

Thanks for looking! Hopefully someone finds this chronicle helpful for their own endeavours. :)
 
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Having just spent 15 times as much money to buy the licensed costume and accurize and enlarge it, I bow, nay grovel, to your expertise, patience and incredible creativity. This is the spirit of cosplay. Truly astounding! Thank you, so much, for documenting your build.


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